wayner92

What's the deal with the IFE system used by AC? Were they sold a product when they bought this System a decade back? These systems crash very regularly and the FAS have to often tell you that you have to use....the....system...very....slowly....

And the resolution is horrible and the movies are usually a 4:3 AR when the screens are a 16:9 AR so you have pillar boxing.

I hope someone was fired over this.

ACYYZ/SD

You'll see and experience a marked difference on AC's latest IFE System (Panasonic eX), in terms of resolution, clarity, responsiveness and choice. It's currently available on recent 777's and all 787's entering the fleet.

I'm batting about 99.9% reliability on these aircraft. 1 individual seat reset &
0 shutdowns/system reboots to date.

mikeyyz

I can't wait to experience the new system! Still, I don't know why AC took the risk with the system they were sold when Panasonic is/was such a clear leader. They must have gotten a real discount... but I'm sure (?) it's a mistake that won't be made again

PLeblond

Project XM entered operation in 2006, which probably means the system was chosen well over 10 years ago and would have been difficult (read very costly) to change without a complete interior renovation. At that time it was one of the better systems out there.

As an example, NZ installed theirs at about the same time and I can tell you its actually must worse for wear than AC. Frequent skipping, freezing and slow loading.

I suggest you look around your living room at your audio/video to see what is still there from 10 years ago. Might put some perspective in its age.

cooleddie

Isn't there a way to easily upgrade the existing systems? Add more memory? Upgrade the CPU? Use SSD instead of the regular old hard drives?

superangrypenguin

From what i've learned, the HDD's are currently SSDs

Admiral Ackbar

(WARNING TO THE PEDANTIC: THIS IS A GROSS OVERSIMPLIFICATION TO GET MY POINT ACROSS)

Changing most any part in an aircraft (and especially something that is a fire hazard like electronic equipment) away from what was approved by the regulatory authorities is no simple feat and many $$$. I am talking about even changing the type of foam in a headrest...

theseatbelt

lol............ but electronic devices brought on board by pax change every time

who is to say a laptop battery brought by me won't start burning up?

superangrypenguin

Correct, but your laptop battery isn't required to be certified by Transport Canada

winnipegrev

One more digital server unit is being added to each 321 as it is reconfigured to 14/169 (up from 3 to 4 DSUs) which should boost reliability. I'm glad AC has found a use for them as they rip them out of the Rouged A319s/763s.

To be honest I must have had very good luck vs. others as I'd guess I've experienced around 98% reliability. The sound issues can usually be fixed by unplugging your headset about 1mm.

yvr76

You're expecting something to mirror the experience you get out of an iPad from a system that is almost a decade old?

As ACYYZ/SD mentioned, all these issues have been resolved with the latest IFE. I've experienced it on both the 77P and 787 and the reliability, responsiveness (fast and capacitive multitouch), resolution (HD), aspect ratio (16:9) is what you'd expect in a modern day IFE. I look forward to watching TV/movies on these aircraft, especially in J (the 787 pods have an 18" HD screen).

The streaming IFE with the rouge fleet however is another story. Doesn't support Android yet, frequent app crashes, and the streaming selection (although 16:9 and good resolution) is very limited and outdated.

The iPads they hand out have a second 'rouge player plus' app, that has a small selection of newer content on them, stored locally on the iPad. Unfortunately this is 4:3 and poor quality.

wayner92

i actually have at least two TVs over ten years old in my house and they are fine despite the fact that they only display 720p. But don't forget that these IFE systems were bad on day one - they have always required lots or reboots - in fact I think that has gotten better in recent years.

jaysona

Pax equipment are not part of the aircraft and therefore part of the type certificate which indicates a particular aircraft configuration that is deemed airworthy and safe for flight.

Upgrading any hardware requires new set of testing and the issuance of a STC - Supplemental Type Certificate. This is not cheap by any stretch and is why a $50 piece of computing equipment you can pick at Best Buy ends up costing up to $20k by the time it is certified as being safe for flight.

Upgrades aren't cheap or easy to do.

jaysona

The person was likely promoted.

When the Thales system was selected it was among the top of the line in terms of AVOD IFE at the time.

Not sure why you're experiencing such bad luck with the IFE though.

I can't recall the last time it didn't work for me, and I use the system about a dozen times a week. Maybe 5 years ago there were some stability issues, but not anymore - that I have noticed.

drvannostren

I like the IFE. Not sure what the major issues are. I much prefer it to WS or UA (the direct TV thing I mean). Live TV is garbage because unless it's primetime there's likely nothing on.

I've had 1 crash, 1 seat where the IFE didn't work at all. Never had any other issues, I'm patient with it touch wise, my biggest gripe is it seems there's lots of screens where the touch is kinda insensitive or off a bit so where you click isn't where you mean to click. I wish the selection were a bit better too but that's just because they leave some stuff on there too long.

It's a bit antiquated but the strangest thing for me is why there's still stuff on there that says "coming soon", I think the games have been coming soon for a decade.

Also...the quality, it might not be HD but come on man the screen is 7" the difference between what they give you and HD won't be life changing. Lastly...am I the only one that uses the "full screen" button that stretches the picture to 16:9? Or is your complaint that because the original image is squished to 4:3 that it looks worse once stretched? I don't find much of a difference.